Kmart's Ready!

I made a trip to Kmart yesterday couldn't resist snapping a shot of the lovely view below :)  BOXES of Halloween merch just waiting to be put out :)  I will surely be checking back daily.  They have the best foam skulls!

The Best Cup of Coffee Ever!

Found this picture while searching Google for Pumpkin Spice coffee syrup :)  What a way to start the day!

Schedule Review

I'm now ending the 3rd week of my project schedule, and I'm not doing too bad =)  Here's where I wanted to be and where I'm at:

Week 1 - Aug. 1 - 6: Complete Stingy Jack's neck and face reconstruction (all PM/clay/paint). Complete Shakespeare tombstone. - Jack's neck and face are completed!  The Shakespeare stone is ready for aging and paint, but I think I'm going to wait till I have all of my stones at that point to paint them all in one day.

Week 2 - Aug. 7 - 13: Complete Jack's hand sculpt & buy more foam for MORE tombstones. - One hand is  ready for final touches. The other is going to take a little more planning b/c it will end up being part of more support for Jack. No new foam yet.

Week 3 - Aug. 14 - 20: Paint and finalize Jack's hands. Carve new Halloween countdown stone. - Going to buy new foam today or tomorrow for count down stone =)

Week 4 - Aug. 21 - 27: Complete Countdown stone & paint Edward Goery urn ;) - I'll be able to print the lettering for the countdown stone during the week.  I also have some new plans for the Goery urn, so I'll have to work those in.  It'll require more time than I originally thought, but it's going to be worth it.

Week 5 - Aug. 31 - Sept. 5/6 (extended 5 day weekend): Complete Goery urn and begin and complete new stained glass window project. - I think that at this point, I should be caught up :)  We'll see!!!!


So, all in all, not too bad.  I'm off by a bit and I've gone a little out of order and started on some other things, but I think, that I will end up completing everything at the end of week 5 that I wanted to complete plus some things that I hadn't originally planned on ;)

Jack's Neck

He has really come a long way since last year ;)

It's amazing what some eyebrows, a neck, new hat and a little paint can do for a prop ;)

Weekend Progress

I'm getting there ;) I'm trying not to let other potential projects distract me, but I'm easily distracted by fun, creepy projects ;) I'll show and tell about that one in an up-coming post.

For now, Jack's neck is completely sculpted. Now he just needs paint. Also, one hand is mostly sculpted; I just need to add detail, then it's on to the 2nd. Not doing too bad and not too far off schedule :)

Motivated

I couldn't think of a better way to start a day of prop building :)

Overly Ambitious?

So, maybe I was a little ambitious with my schedule :) A dreamer can dream, right? I've hit a few snags, things that I wasn't planning on and things that I forgot to allow time for.

Take Jack's repairs:

His neck requires a little piece of chest to be added, so that he doesn't have a gapping hole showing when he's dressed.

Also, on his hand construction, each finger has to be constructed and then allowed to dry before the next one can be done. It's a bit of a tedious process, but I think that the results will be well worth it.

Then there's the Shakespeare stone. I need to shave down the edges to blend the layers of foam. Well, first I need to find a mask that makes the cut in keeping the foam particles out of my lungs :)

Oh, Jack also got eyebrows today =)

So, I'm glad that I allowed the extra 4 weeks. I'm happy that I'm getting things going though. I'm happiest when I'm working on my projects, even when they take longer than I expected ;)

I've Made a Schedule

I can tell that I'm "maturing" as a haunter, because I have actually created a building schedule for myself. ;) I know, that really makes things sound like work, but if I don't have a deadline (pun intended) I won't realize how quickly my time is running out. PLUS, my husband has yet again talked me into a week long, out of town vacation in October... so, it is highly important that I stay on target so that I can enjoy the holiday and the vacation to the FULLEST extent :)

From today, we have exactly 9 weeks till October 1st. I know some of you out there are probably screaming at your computer screens right now, cursing me for actually revealing how little time we have, but awareness is key to success! (Ok, my inner positive reinforcement cheerleader escaped for a moment there ;))

So here it is, the first 5 weeks of my 9 week schedule:

Week 1 - Aug. 1 - 6: Complete Stingy Jack's neck and face reconstruction (all PM/clay/paint). Complete Shakespeare tombstone.

Week 2 - Aug. 7 - 13: Complete Jack's hand sculpt & buy more foam for MORE tombstones.

Week 3 - Aug. 14 - 20: Paint and finalize Jack's hands. Carve new Halloween countdown stone.

Week 4 - Aug. 21 - 27: Complete Countdown stone & paint Edward Goery urn ;)

Week 5 - Aug. 31 - Sept. 5/6 (extended 5 day weekend): Complete Goery urn and begin and complete new stained glass window project.

I feel like this is do-able. I'm going to plan the final 4 weeks once I see how the first couple go. Then of course I'll have some time in October, but I don't want to rely on those last few weeks to finish anything up.

Ready? Set? Let's go!!!

Only 91 Days

It's CRUNCH time people! Every weekend from here on out will be devoted to meeting some project goal. I don't want to be in a hurried panic this year, two weeks before the day. So, I shifted into, "I cannot do any projects unless it's for the display" mode =)

First up, the Shakespeare stone got some bulk...

Jack is getting some "work" done =) An eye job....
He's getting a neck too!


So, during the week, I need to mix a batch of paint for the stone, put another layer of PM on Jack's neck, and paint his eye.

This weekend, complete Jack's neck and complete Shakespeare's stone, at the very least.